Two In Fray For Miss Himalaya 2016 Crown

Dharamshala (McLeod Ganj): Two beautiful young women from Dharamshala, who are assured of taking away the prizes, will be competing on Sunday in the finale of the Miss Himalaya 2016 beauty pageant.

Disappointed with three of the early applicants not establishing contact and one contestant not being able to make it to the venue in the last moments, Lobsang Wangyal, director of the pageant said “we expected more contestants, but we are happy for these two good ones. Since the mission of the Pageant is to help empower young women, we feel it’s important that we go ahead with the Pageant as planned, to encourage and respect those who are taking this opportunity to fulfil their dreams.”

The two beauties in the fray for the Miss Himalaya title are Ayushi Sethi, 21, a bachelors of business administration (BBA) student and Parul Patel, 23, a masters of business administration (MBA) student. Both are studying at at Dharamshala Degree College.

Since there are only two contestants, they both will win prizes. The winner will receive a prize of one lakh rupees (100,000), the first runner-up 50,000.Himachal Pradesh Housing and Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) a Himachal Pradesh government organisation has stepped up to support the pageant with a Rs 1 lakh grant.

Lobsang Wangyal said, “we received six applications. However, three never contacted us after filling their applications, and one was unable to get here at the last minute. Four more enquired about participating but were late as they applied only a week before the Pageant. We tried to provide them the opportunity with a late fee, but they didn’t take advantage of this.”

This would be the fourth edition of the Miss Himalaya pageant that is open for young girls from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh, including the northeastern states. Women from Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet can also participate.